The Best Part of Becoming a Registered Dietitian

Interested in becoming a registered dietitian? Wondering what can you do with a nutrition degree? Being a media RD may be your dream job!

Want to be a media dietitian or even a celebrity nutritionist? Working in the media as a registered dietitian nutritionist (RDN) is a ton of fun. Plus, it can help grow your career, your income, and your flexibility!

What does a registered dietitian do? What can you do with a nutrition degree? Oh so many things! 

I’m excited to share my story of how I became a media dietitian and one of the top food and nutrition experts in the United States with you. For me, working as a media RD is the best thing about becoming a dietitian.

Plus, I’m sharing my top seven tips for breaking into media as a second-career dietitian. Read on to find out how to become a media nutrition expert or even a celebrity nutritionist in NYC.

I’m also giving information on how to become a registered dietitian in the first place. And you’ll learn what I think are the best registered dietitian nutritionist career options.

How to become a registered dietitian

How to become an RD? Becoming a dietitian isn’t the easiest thing in the world, but it is so worth it. For just a second, let’s back track. What is a registered dietitian nutritionist, and what do dietitians do?

A registered dietitian nutritionist may also be called a registered dietitian or a dietitian. However, it is not the same thing as a registered nutritionist.

An RD (or RDN) has received an incredibly intensive nutrition education. Many RDs will have a bachelor’s degree in nutrition, but there’s no mandated registered dietitian degree.

Rather, being a dietitian and working as a dietitian requires that you have completed very specific education requirements.

To become an RDN, you must fulfill all the educational requirements which require completing a Didactic Program in Dietetics and also having the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree education in nutrition.

As for educational requirements for becoming a registered dietitian, here’s what you should know. To obtain my education in nutrition, I completed the Dietetic Internship at Utah State University and her Didactic Program in Dietetics at New York University. 

So you must find one of the nutrition education programs that specifically meets these guidelines. You must also fulfill 1,000 supervised practice hours and pass the registration examination for dietitians.

This exam is overseen by the Commission on Dietetic Registration. To maintain the RDN credential, a registered dietitian must complete 75 continuing-education hours every five years. 

If you’re wondering, “Would I make a good registered dietitian nutritionist?” ask yourself a few questions. Do you love learning about nutrition and food?

Or is your preference either the clinical side of things where you would be working directly with patients? Do you enjoy the culinary side of things where you would be creating recipes and teaching cooking classes. Or perhaps you enjoy the media side of things working in nutrition communications.

Or perhaps you’re interested in teaching nutrition education. There are many registered dietitian nutritionist jobs out there. This includes consultant dietitian jobs, freelance dietitian jobs, work for dietitian companies, and freelance nutrition writing jobs.

Read on, and I’ll tell you more about the media dietitian side of things. And if you’re wondering, “How much do dietitians make?” I’ll tell you this. Salaries vary very drastically. But it is possible to make six figures as a dietitian. And media work is a top way to do so.

My career change to dietitian

I get many questions about how I became a media dietitian, as well as my journey to becoming a registered dietitian. So I figured I’d give a run-down of my career path, plus my top tips for breaking into media as an RDN!

Life as a media dietitian is so much fun. I definitely consider being a media nutritionist one of the best dietitian jobs out there! If you’d like to read more of my back story, take a look at my post on how I made a career change to become a dietitian.

As a freelance writer for more than a decade, I’ve authored 1,000-plus magazine and web articles. And as an RDN for almost five years, I’ve completed about 1,000 media interviews. 

I’ll start off by saying that there’s no go-to traditional or non-traditional way to get into media! I’ve heard so many stories from registered dietitians who work in the media, so I’m sharing mine here.

How my career change to nutritionist got inspired

I’ll start at the very beginning, before I even started thinking about becoming a registered dietitian. My first career was in magazine publishing, as a health and nutrition magazine editor.

Part of this was back in the heydey of print mags.

I got to meet more celebs than I can count on both hands (including Brooke Shields, Ellen Pompeo, Rachael Ray, Bobby Flay, Rocco DiSpirito, and many famous nutritionists!), the magazines I worked for had budgets for happy hour after happy hour, and brands I met with gave me presents like an espresso maker and even a spa day at the Mandarin Oriental!

I definitely worked hard, working more late nights and weekends than I care to remember. But as a young professional enjoying New York City life, I had a blast.

My colleagues and I bonded over late night dinner “parties” at the office, eating takeout and signing off page proofs to ship to the publisher so the magazine could be printed.

My pre-nutritionist career

In college, my entrance into publishing began. I graduated from the University of Florida with dual degrees in journalism (with a focus in magazine journalism) and visual art studies.

I’d always loved painting, and having that art background helped me with the visual aspect of magazines. I collaborated with the art team to come up with visual treatments for the stories I worked on. 

One of my favorite responsibilities was attending photo shoots to oversee the photography for some of my articles. I learned a lot about food photography, which later inspired me to purchase my very own DSLR help me create my own food blog. 

Then I learned that seeds were sometimes glued to buns with special food styling tweezers in order to achieve the perfect look! 

I got as much publishing experience as I could during college, working for my college newspaper and then a local newspaper and magazine.

Plus, I even landed a prestigious American Society of Magazines internship at Ladies’ Home Journal one summer during college, and I had assignments for LHJ, Women’s Health, and Men’s Health before I graduated undergrad. You could say I was eager to make it!

After college, I took a short break, doing a multi-month intern stint at Runner’s World before heading over to Northwestern University to get my graduate degree, a master of science in journalism, with a concentration in magazine publishing.

If you’re thinking about getting a master’s degree, you don’t have to enroll in a nutrition program. You can get it in any area that interests you.

This was one of the coolest experiences of my educational life: I worked with 17 other grad students with a real-life, multi-thousand-dollar-budget to create a magazine.

We even pitched it to publishing companies. If you’re curious, our concept was called Hyperlink, a print magazine for web editors.

Although it didn’t exactly get off the ground, we had a great time bringing it to life and won an award for a start-up magazine project from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

Why I decided to become a nutritionist

Now that I’ve given you my early-days background, I’ll fast forward a bit. After grad school, I took an internship at Prevention magazine in a small town in Pennsylvania.

I did the working my way up thing. Nowadays, some (lucky!) web editors might get their first jobs at an assistant or associate editor level. But back then you had no choice but to put your time in as an editorial assistant to get anywhere in the publishing world.

So I interned for many months, working as hard as I could, crossing all my fingers and toes that I’d get hired as an editorial assistant. And I did.

I snagged a job in the magazine’s New York City office, and I was officially off to work in the city! I juggled assistant duties with writing for the magazine, which I knew was the work that would help me fast forward my career. Some weeks I put in 70-plus hours.

But my perseverance paid off when I got many bylines in the magazine and even got to edit a nutrition column for several months.

It was during this time at Prevention that I realized my passion for nutrition. I didn’t even have an inkling of my desire for becoming a registered dietitian nutritionist until I was midway through this job! 

One of my responsibilities was to write and research nutrition articles. One day, I got on the phone with an omega-3 expert who explained the intricacies of the omega-3s EPA and DHA to me. We spent well over an hour chatting.

When I hung up with this very kind expert, I thought, “I’d love to understand this in a minute, not an hour.” So I started looking into furthering my education to become an RDN.

And thus began my journey to becoming a registered dietitian working in the media! You can kind of say that omega-3s are why I became a dietitian! 

My training to become a media RD

There are only so many nutrition magazine jobs out there, so I was always very picky about my next move.

While at my next job, as an assistant health and nutrition editor at American Baby, I enrolled in night classes at New York University to begin my Didactic Program in Nutrition and Dietetics (DPD) education.

I was officially on what would turn into a seven-year path to become an RDN!

During my time at American Baby, I went on air several times for CBS’ Up to the Minute. I got amazing media training for these segments. A head nodder and a blinker, I trained myself to do both less often. I learned to talk with my hands less.

Then I got feedback on my wardrobe, finding out that having a staple of jewel tones in my closet is of paramount importance to looking sharp on TV. And I experimented with make-up, determining that the amount of blush I applied for a TV segment was way more than I’d ever wear in day-to-day life!

Want more pointers? Here are nine tips to land a broadcast segment.

I then moved over to American Baby’s sister publication, Parents, for a short stint as associate health and nutrition editor. I loved that the staffers there, most of them parents, worked hours conducive to getting home in time to eat dinner with their families!

Next up was a gig at Health, where I was the senior diet editor. This was a title that might be a bit faux paus nowadays: Today, a good number of the articles I take part in are about how to make lasting lifestyle changes for lasting weight loss—without the need for short-term diets.

But back then, a big part of my job was to write a monthly column about women who’d lost weight by following various diet plans, and I even helped create diet plans to help readers lose 12 pounds in just one month. Let’s just say I’d approach that job differently now, as an RDN! 

I had a great time working there, though. And I got to experience the sophisticated culture of having an office in the Time Inc. building. That was my only job during which I wore heels almost daily. I commuted in sneakers and kept a pile of heels and wedges under my desk!

How I became a registered dietitian

And then came my absolute favorite job that I ever had while traditionally employed. (I’d have to say that my all-time favorite job is now, self employed as a media dietitian!) Next up was senior editor at Weight Watchers Magazine and WeightWatchers.com.

I was part of a small team that worked so well together. This meant that I got to conceive and edit many columns and features, while also writing a good amount for the magazine. 

I stayed at that job for about three years, until it was time to leave to complete my dietetic internship. My departure was pretty bittersweet. I loved the position, yet I knew it was time to move on to the next chapter of my career.

While I completed my distance internship at Utah State University, studied for the RDN exam (learn how to pass the RD exam), and got my business off the ground, I continued to pen a weekly nutrition blog for Weight Watchers, “The Eat List.” 

My media dietitian career

After finishing my internship, I tried my hand at running my own nutrition communications business. Yup, my very first RD job was as a business owner! I figured if I didn’t like it or it didn’t go well, I could always go back to a regular job.

But I ended up absolutely loving it—the thrill, the flexibility, and the sheer fun of it—and I never looked back.

Being a media dietitian is one of the most amazing non-traditional dietitian jobs out there. What does a dietitian do day to day? Today, I do a combo of everything I love.

I write freelance articles for titles including  NBCNews.com, FoodNetwork.com, and ReadersDigest.com—and do media interviews for similar publications.

Typically, working as a media RDN entails jumping onto the spokespeople train and working as a consultant dietitian. Some media nutritionists even become famous dietitians!

I now work as a spokesperson, consultant, speaker, and recipe developer for brands and commodity boards I love. I co-run a media training e-course called Master the Media for RDNs.

And I run my blog, Plant Based with Amy, conceiving and photographing healthy and delicious vegetarian recipes. My business has grown so much that I’ve even hired a social media virtual assistant!

People often ask if I still see patients. I do have a small private practice, through which I practice medical nutrition therapy with clients. Early in my career, I worked inpatient at a health care facility but I decided that wasn’t for me!

How to become a media dietitian

Now that you’ve learned about my background and my journey to becoming a registered dietitian, you might be wondering if you also have to spend years and years (and years!) gaining media experience to make it as a media dietitian.

I have great news for you: You can fast forward! I’m sharing my top tips here for breaking into the media dietitian world, right now. One of the highlights of my dietitian career is helping other dietitians, so read on!

And by the way, one major benefit of working with the media is that your home base for work can be anywhere you’d like. You can create the perfect registered dietitian nutritionist work environment!

1. Start Right Now

Repeat after me: You are the nutrition expert! The path to becoming a registered dietitian is no cake walk, and you’ve earned your status as an expert.

And doing media doesn’t have to be all or nothing. For the entirety of my eight or so years as a magazine editor, I wrote freelance articles on the side for publications such as Runner’s World, Consumer Reports ShopSmart, and Women’s Health.

I wanted the extra income. But I also wanted to establish my name as a dietitian writer for when I went out on my own and needed that name recognition.

You can do this while at your day job. Want to learn more about working with the media as a dietitian or a health professional? I’m hosting a free media bootcamp You can grab your spot by signing up here!

I also run the Master the Media Coaching Program. I’ve spent more hours than I can count creating this program.

It’s the only program out there to teach health professionals how to fast track the process of getting their names in the news––and teaches you how to land multiple five-figure brand partnerships, book deals, speaking engagements, and more!

The Master the Media coaching program includes:

• 24 hours of live small-group coaching from myself and fellow media guru Samantha Cassetty
• 80-plus videos (25-plus hours of video!)
• 35-plus workbooks, cheat sheets, and trackers to help you not only master the media but leverage that media attention to earn lucrative brand partnerships, speaking engagements, and more
• A private Facebook group with personalized feedback on workbooks and answers to all your burning questions
• 65 CPEUs, including an ethics credit, for registered dietiitans

Plus, you’ll walk away with your very own media kit and ready-to-send pitches to producers and editors. You’ll also get contact information for any editor or producer out there!

2. Establish a niche

This is of uber importance. Having an area or two of expertise as a media RD (and as any kind of a dietitian!) helps set you apart from the countless other dietitians out there. There are so many careers in food and nutrition and so many areas of focus. So which niche is right for you?

By having this expertise, you don’t have to spread your efforts so thin trying to land every media opportunity out there.

My areas of expertise, for example, are plant-based eating, weight management, and media and entrepreneurship. So I focus my efforts in creating content and landing media interviews in these areas.

3. Perfect the art of pitching

A big part of landing the freelance assignment is writing the perfect pitch. Use these seven tips to craft a stellar pitch.

4. Build a portfolio

Highlight any media work that you do, pronto. When I first got into the media dietitian side of things, a friend and mentor advised me to highlight any new media on my website as soon as it came out. I’ve continued to do this for years, and it’s always served me well.

Reporters contact me after seeing my library of quotes, and brands ask me to work with them because they’re looking for a dietitian with an impressive media presence. I also created a media kit, which I regularly update.

5. Realize the importance of smaller publications

When I was in grad school, I had a column in two tiny Illinois newspapers. I was working any angle I could to establish my credibility as an author. Smaller publications can help you build a media presence, guiding you to those larger publications.

Industry titles, such as Today’s Dietitian, the Stone Soup blog from Food & Nutrition Magazine, and even DPG newsletters, can help you build your portfolio, too. Try these 10 strategies to become a successful freelance writer.

6. Be prepared

These days, it’s as likely to be invited to take part in a virtual interview via radio or podcast as it is to be asked appear in person at a broadcast station.

It helps to have a few pieces of basic equipment on hand to help these go as seamlessly as possible. When I’m doing an audio interview or hosting a webinar via my laptop, I use headphones that I can speak into for crisp sound.

I also have a microphone that attaches to my iPhone or tablet and increases audio quality. When I use this, I attach an adapter to my phone so I can simultaneously plug in the microphone and charge my phone.

I usually use this microphone and adapter for Facebook Lives, too. No equipment? Then use the advice I received when I did my very first radio interview! Use a landline for the interview, or lock yourself in a bathroom (the acoustics are great!) with your cell phone.

7. Sell yourself!

Make your media presence super obvious to anyone who might possibly want to work with you. Have business cards at the ready to hand out at events (I keep mine in a cute little carrying case), include your title, blog, and social links in your e-mail signature, and have a media kit at the ready.

I get my biz cards printed at Moo.com. The print and paper quality are incredible, and I always get compliments on my cards. 

More media dietitian tips

Want more tips? Here are a few interviews about my media background:

• Health + Wellness: Comparing Three Successful Content Creators in a Thriving Category, ClearVoice.com
• Meet Amy Gorin, Our Local Nutritionist, ParkBench.com
• What RDs Do: Amy Gorin, MS, RDN, WhatRDsDo.com

And here’s content I’ve worked on, with tips to help you kill it as a media dietitian:

• Do I Need a Media Coach? Today’s Dietitian
• How to Make a Career Change to Become a Dietitian, Plant Based with Amy
• The Best Social Media Apps, Plus More Online Marketing Tools, Plant Based with Amy
• How to Carve Out Time for Creativity in a Busy Day, WorkandMoney.com

I’d love to hear from you! Tell me about your journey to becoming a registered dietitian. I’d also love to hear why you’re interested in a career as a media dietitian. Which food and nutrition jobs speak to you the most? What do you think is the best thing about becoming a nutritionist?

Do you have any other questions about how to become a nutritionist?